Best way to fly 'into' a planetary ring

[Traveller_GG]

Without head-butting it or taking an age to fly to it?

Anyone got any hints? While I have done so, I used the head-butt method which is not advisable.

Do you just manually lower your speed until you see the rings change their look and then drop out of SC?

 

[Anuranium]

If I am going mining outside of RES's or just want to take pretty pictures I usually approach them at a "flat" angle. That way I can fly above the ring at full speed and only slow down and dip into it without the emergency drop that damages the ship.

 

[newman1702]

If going for a RES, it's easy because you have the distance displayed on the HUD, and it won't drop you out because you're too close if you're approaching the RES directly, not before you're ready for safe disengage first. Just make sure your approach vector doesn't take you head on into the ring's side, that can hurt

If you want to just explore rings somewhere in the unexplored black of space to take some selfies in the rings, you don't even have to drop out manually. When you get really close you will see that the rings are starting to look grainy, as individual rocks are becoming visible. Drop your throttle (min. is 30 km/s in supercruise, don't be above 900 km/s to be sure this works) and keep approaching. Rather than guess when you're close enough and then having to fly for a long time without supercruise, keep going at min. throttle and let your ship do an emergency stop - but if you were at min. throttle it counts as a safe drop and you won't take damage. So, when you get close you can just keep approaching at minimum throttle safely. And the nice thing about this method is the approach angle doesn't matter much, it's all equally safe and the fastest approach is to just dive straight into it.

 

[certhas]

im doing it like Anuranium, first approach the Ring in a steep angle to decrease distance fast, then turn untill a very flat approach angle is reached, then get close till you see the rocks (and not just white dots) and disengage...

edit: did i already add you to my friends list? whats your cmdr. name?

 

[Traveller_GG]

Same as my forum name

I'll give the 30m/s throttle a try - I reckon I was just being impatient... this is not unusual

 

[Katejina]

Fly parallel to the rings with a slight decline and one the rocks become visible as tiny clusters, just kill your throttle and dip straight into the ring. You don't need to be going 30m/s to enter safely, I've hit a ring at full throttle and taken no damage. (not recommended, was an idiot stunt lol)

 

[newman1702]

Fly parallel to the rings with a slight decline and one the rocks become visible as tiny clusters, just kill your throttle and dip straight into the ring. You don't need to be going 30m/s to enter safely, I've hit a ring at full throttle and taken no damage. (not recommended, was an idiot stunt lol)

You need to be at a minimum safe disengage speed or you will take damage. That speed is below 1 Mm/s. Above that, the faster you go the more damage your ship takes. If you hit it at full throttle with no damage, I would guess you either encountered a lucky bug, or your velocity was in the safe zone despite the current throttle setting at the time - the last one is quite possible.

I really can't recommend just hitting them at velocities above 1 Mm/s, not even for science if you're far away from the nearest port. AFMU's don't repair canopies

 

[Katejina]

You need to be at a minimum safe disengage speed or you will take damage. That speed is below 1 Mm/s. Above that, the faster you go the more damage your ship takes. If you hit it at full throttle with no damage, I would guess you either encountered a lucky bug, or your velocity was in the safe zone despite the current throttle setting at the time - the last one is quite possible.

I really can't recommend just hitting them at velocities above 1 Mm/s, not even for science if you're far away from the nearest port. AFMU's don't repair canopies

I was attempting to slip through the gap between the ring and the planet at an angle that made it difficult to properly aim my trajectory at the speed I was travelling. I just barely missed the window and hit the ring. I lost control of my ship momentarily - as you do most often when you drop from SC at such speeds - but I took no damage to any part of my ship. Chalk it up to luck I suppose.

 

[newman1702]

Yea, the damage was probably so minor (below 1%) that it didn't register. Or maybe you just took a small hit to ship integrity without taking any systems or hull damage, and you didn't notice. At any rate if you lose control of your ship during droput, it's an usnafe deceleration, and as far as you can tell the faster you were prior to the FSD cutting out, the more damage you take. So if you're going like, 1.2 Mm/s, it'll be very minor. I once managed to crack my canopy when I decided to use an AFMU on my FSD during supercruise. Can't remember how fast I was going at the time, must have been at least 10-15c if not faster - but I was glad to be 3 jumps away from a port

 

[Traveller_GG]

Yea, the damage was probably so minor (below 1%) that it didn't register. Or maybe you just took a small hit to ship integrity without taking any systems or hull damage, and you didn't notice. At any rate if you lose control of your ship during droput, it's an usnafe deceleration, and as far as you can tell the faster you were prior to the FSD cutting out, the more damage you take. So if you're going like, 1.2 Mm/s, it'll be very minor. I once managed to crack my canopy when I decided to use an AFMU on my FSD during supercruise. Can't remember how fast I was going at the time, must have been at least 10-15c if not faster - but I was glad to be 3 jumps away from a port

Presumably this was the comedy faceplant into the glass moment

 

[Oopsie Daisy]

I just SC straight down towards the part of the ring I am interested and slow down about 50% at some point as I get close, then as the rings begin to resolve themselves I slow down to 25% SC speed, then 10%, then min SC speed. Toggle speed up and down one notch (minimum adjustment either way) until the rocks start to show and then go into min SC. The autostop safely drops me in the rings. This can be done very quickly or at least faster than my poor write-up might otherwise suggest.

 

[Wargrum]

I find that if I just drop my speed to the same safe dropout speed for arriving at habitats, that you can just fly into the ring until the proximity alert drops you out, with no damage to the ship. Every time I've manually dropped out, I end up a looooong way from the actual ring. Anything under 1Mm/s should be safe, just like arriving at a port.

 

[drkaii]

• Sharp angle a 75% thrust until close
• Level out to a 5 degree angle without slowing
• When you are nearly close enough to see the rocks, throttle to about 10%
• Wait until you are under 1,000kms and then angle down again and hit them.